Marmite Quiche

It is one of the things my husband and I will never agree on. I will never be able to convince him nor him me. I am not referring to an ethical or theological question, but instead our opinions of Marmite. The are two clear camps in our house: Marmite lovers and Marmite haters. Simon hates it and I love it. Despite being on opposite sides of this crucial topic we do manage to have a happy marriage. I just make sure I eat marmite when he is nowhere near me.

While volunteering in Ecuador during my year abroad (many, many years ago), the family I was living with had a small pot of Marmite that they ceremoniously brought out when I arrived. It turns out that another English volunteer had left it behind and they were convinced that it would make me feel at home. Touched by the gesture, I asked them if they liked it. The youngest (around 7) said to me: “it is OK mixed in with rice, but it tastes a bit funny.” His response made me chuckle and I ended up explaining that not all British people like Marmite and some in fact hate it. I never saw any of the family touch the Marmite in my presence, but I did manage to polish off the jar during my stay. I think they were quite relieved! I was very happy to have something to remind me of home.

Luckily for me, the kids agree with my assessment and love Marmite. It is such a versatile ingredient: Marmite on toast, in sandwiches, plain rice, spaghetti and of course quiche. Now before you dismiss me as crazy for adding Marmite to quiche (or any of the other ideas…), I promise you it works (if you like Marmite). Don’t believe me try it and decide for yourself.

We have made both mini marmite quiches as well as a big one. I must admit I tend to make way too much pastry as then it doesn’t matter if the children don’t roll it out thin enough. It is easy enough to chop excess pastry away from a flan tin or just make more mini ones. We used muffin trays for the small ones, but I would recommend using a shallow bun tin instead though.

Ingredients

For the pastry (this is enough to easily fill a 23cm diameter flan tin or make between 14 and 18 mini ones)

  • 280g flour
  • 130g butter/margarine
  • 70ml water
  • pinch of salt

For the filling

  • 3  large eggs
  • 120ml single cream (you can use milk instead but it will make the filling runnier when making. It doesn’t impact upon the finished quiche though)
  • 100g grated cheese
  • 1tbsp marmite (use less for a milder taste and more for a stronger taste)
  • 1tsp mixed herbs

Method

  1. Place the butter, flour and salt into a bowl and rub with fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs.
  2. Pour in the water and knead together to form a ball. Add more water if it is too dry and more flour if too soggy.
  3. Place a silicone baking mat on your surface and flour it well. Put the pastry on the mat and sprinkle with flour. Dust a rolling pin with flour and roll it out.
  4. Grease and flour the flan dish or the shallow bun tin. Lay the pastry over the flan tin and gently press into the edges. Cut off any excess, but leaving a bit extra on. Prick the bottom of the pastry and cover with greaseproof paper and baking beans. Make sure some of the beans are close to the edge. If using the shallow bun tin cut into rounds with a circular cutter a bit larger than the holes. Bake blind at 200ºc (15 minutes for the large one and around 7-10 minutes for the mini ones).
  5. Meanwhile make the filling. Crack the eggs into a large bowl and whisk.
  6. Add the cream (or milk), cheese and herbs and mix.
  7. Grease the measuring spoon for the Marmite (we used frylight and squeezy Marmite) and add the Marmite. Mix thoroughly. This may be quite difficult due to the Marmite’s texture, so you may well need to help with this.
  8. Remove the pastry from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 170ºc. Pour the mixture into the pastry base (or spoon into the mini ones) and bake for 40-45 minutes until it is set. The quiche may look a bit brown as it cooks, but this is because of the Marmite.

My kids and I really enjoyed these and unsurprisingly we didn’t share them with Simon. It seems to be the kids’ new favourite quiche flavour replacing pizza quiche which formerly held the top spot for a very long time.

 

 

 

 

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